The Handmaid's Tale Is Actually a Huge Relief

It was probably on my third viewing of The Handmaid’s Tale that I realized that I was not re-watching it because I found it horrifying. I was re-watching it because I found it soothing.

Not because anything about the plot is comforting. In fact, The Handmaid’s Tale, based off of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, is about as discomforting as anything could be. It depicts a near-future United States where women have been stripped of their rights. Fertile women who have attempted to flee the theocratic regime are forced to bear children for infertile couples who are in power. Unmarried women become servants for married couples. In the first three episodes, the main character is beaten, separated from her daughter, raped and beaten some more. Other characters suffer punishments like having an eye gouged out for backtalk, and genital mutilation for being gay.

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It’s all deeply upsetting in a way that can and should make you nauseous.

"To be a feminist in America is to be told you are overreacting on a daily basis."

The only obviously comforting aspect of The Handmaid’s Tale is that the characters in the show seem to have the most beautiful, well-maintained houses. They’re really lovely looking. They have so many copper pots and healthy plants! We should all definitely take a second to marvel at them. Then we should remember they are beautiful only because of domestic slavery, so, that’s a real downer.

So, why should any of this inspire a sigh of relief?

Well, because to be a feminist in America is to be told that you are overreacting on a daily basis. You think that women should not be shamed because of their clothing? Someone will tell you how it’s a woman’s responsibility to dress in a sensible way. They will preface this in such a way to make it seem like they are just being reasonable. You are the one asking for too much.

Here is a show where women are forced to wear sensible pilgrim outfits, and where getting to walk around in jeans, or running shorts, is fondly remembered as freedom. Perhaps one of the most frightening, shiver-up-your-spine moments that signifies the changing world is when a barista calls two characters “sluts” for wearing jogging attire.

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You think that men like Mike Pence should see female colleagues as human beings—not as seductive temptresses or wives—and be willing to share a meal with them in private? Hey, someone will tell you, that guy is just trying to be respectful to his wife and his faith!

Well, here is a world where women are reduced to either breedingstock or wives. Men—all of whom are extremely faithful, as this is a theocracy—aren’t allowed to meet with any women but their wives in private. This creates a world where even men are miserably nostalgic about having normal conversations and maybe playing Scrabble with a woman.

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You think that people need to be pro-choice to be a member of the feminist movement? Someone will tell you that is just a weird mean-girls exclusionary tactic. So, here is a world where women’s highest purpose is to bear babies. Moreover, here the only women who have any power believe that birthing babies is paramount, and they are assaulting other women with cattle prods.

George Kraychyk/Hulu

If you are concerned about repeals on the Global Gag Rule, or Title X Funding, or simply upset at having a President who feels that women are objects who can be grabbed by the pussy, then there are going to be scenes in this show that demonstrate that your fear is warranted.

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And that’s important.

Being a feminist right now often feels like sitting before a row of dominos saying, “hey, do not knock that tile over,” only to have people reply, “oh my god, you’re so overdramatic, it’s one tile.”

Time and time again, you will hear people side with men in positions of power, and not women. Women who believe in women’s rights may hear that they’re overreacting time and time again. That message is always from people who claim that they should just calm down. You may hear this enough that you may begin to doubt your ideology. Maybe, you will come to wonder—as I have—if it’s actually not that important if one tile falls. Maybe, you’ll wonder—as I sometimes do—if I’m just being too rigid. Too shrill. Too strident. Too hysterical.

"Finally, here is a show that says you’re not crazy."

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Finally, here is a show that says you’re not. Here is a show about what happens when you knock enough tiles over that the whole system—every desperately fought for gain for women—falls.

Hey! This may come as a surprise to everyone who thinks that feminist concern is hysteria, but that world looks bad. It looks shockingly terrible. It’s filled with pilgrim gowns and cattle prods and joyless sexual assault. Who could have seen that coming? Literally all the women who are talking about women’s rights all the time and always being told they’re crazy.

So, take heart. If you’re concerned about making sure we don’t go backwards, you’re not crazy. And seeing that onscreen is a relief. But the show is a reminder that if we don’t continue to hold our ground, the world might get a lot crazier.

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